Battle of Fromelles – 1916

Battle of Fromelles

July 19-20, 1916 – In their first major action on the Western Front, Australian troops (supported by British troops) attack the German trenches near the village of Fromelles in northern France.

The plan is to divert German attention from the ongoing Battle of the Somme, but the attack is a disaster. In 20 hours of fighting, Australia loses 5533 men, the greatest military disaster in Australian history.

Ninety years later, the bodies of 250 Australians killed in the attack are discovered in a mass grave near Fromelles. Using DNA testing, a majority of the bodies are identified, and they are reinterred in the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Cemetery